Improving Your Personal Finance for a Successful New Year

Money rules the world. We all need money. It is so vital to our continued existence some people have done very atrocious rituals to be rich. But really, it is not that difficult to become rich. All it takes is follow certain guidelines and your financial doors will unlock easily.

Make a Budget

Everybody must have a budget every month and every year. Budget is a financial outlay of your income and expenditures. It is not only nations and corporate bodies that make budgets. Everybody must have a personal budget as a matter of priority. You must define those things you truly need and those that are mere wants you can do without. You must make provisions for everything you need, including taxes (if you are business man since taxes of employees are deducted from source PAYE – pay as you earn), school fees, utility bills, etc. in your budget.

Learn to Save

You must imbibe the habit of savings. You cannot accumulate wealth if you consume all your resources at a particular time. Admittedly, it is not an easy task. That is why you need a lot of discipline to be able to do that. The more disciplined you are, the more you will be able to save. The excuse that you don’t even earn enough to feed is not tenable. You should be able to save, at least, 10 per cent of your income. You should not consume everything you earn. No matter the job you do, you should be able to save. You have a choice to either consume all your income or set aside some on regular basis as savings. Setting aside a bit of your income is the secret of wealth creation and accumulation.

Investment is good

Investment is the expenditure on physical assets, which is not for immediate consumption. Investment is far much better than savings. There are many investment opportunities. You can invest in bonds, stocks, real estate, etc. Savings is good but saving just for its sake is worthless. You should be able to channel your savings to profitable investments because investments yield more dividends than the peanuts banks pay as interest on your savings. To be successful, you have to be disciplined. If you want to succeed in your personal finance in the New Year, then you must consistently set aside a little bit of your income. Little drops of water, they say, make a mighty ocean.

Avoid Debt

If you pile up debts, you limit your personal finance enhancement. For instance, many people tend to spend so much during Christmas and New Year festivities only to begin the New Year on the bad note of financial deficit. It does not make sense to spend all you have acquired during the year on a week’s celebration. There is no wisdom in that.

Also, don’t fall into the trap of smooth-talking marketers, who are out to strike a deal with you by making tempting 'buy now, pay later' offers. It is only a ploy by manufacturers to dump their excess products on your laps and the unwary cheapily fall into the trap to acquire new furniture, electronics or even cars. However, the marketers will soon come calling for payment and by now with bared fangs, instead of the conviviality they came with when wooing you to buy on credit. So, if you must have financial success in the New Year, you must avoid debts like plague and defer any purchases you cannot afford for later when it is convenient for you.

Be Prudent

As a matter of fact, whether you save or invest is dependent on your ability to manage your resources well. In other words, you must exhibit the highest standard of prudence in management of your resources. The key thing is to know how to manage your finance. It’s all about discipline too and being able to resist spending on just anything that catches your fancy, claiming that it is your money after all. Prudence means prioritising your expenditure, spending according to scale of importance. Many people spend just to satisfy some fad or whim. However, if you do not discipline yourself and spend wisely, you should also be prepared to bear the consequences of your action.

Set Target

Of course, you need to set targets for yourself. There must be something you have set out to achieve. That is actually your driving force. Periodically review your success or otherwise towards attaining these targets; there may be need to rev up your efforts, sustain the tempo or change strategies. Always set targets and when you achieve one, set a higher one. Going through 2013 without a target is like walking in a blind alley or groping in the dark. You must have a destination in mind as you embark on any journey and so, to successfully go on your financial journey in the New Year, it is expedient that you set a realistic goal for yourself and never relax until it is attained. Be careful not to relax even when your goal has been achieved. Set higher ones because the moment you stop striving, you start dying.

Be Resourceful

Wealth creation is not for lazy people. You must be industrious and always on the lookout for opportunities to increase your earnings. You cannot file your hands in your laps and expect money to drop from the skies because it will never happen. Be diligent, committed and resourceful. Don’t be lazy; get busy. You must strive for whatever legitimate means to make money and not be expecting people and social security to give you handouts. You would be surplus to humanity if you add no value but are a drain on the purse of others instead as a matter of choice. I believe you wouldn’t like that. So, get cracking; don’t bother how little your job brings in because when God sees your commitment, He will bless you the more.

Risk It

Life is a risk and you must be able to take reasonable risks. Relaxing in your comfort zone, refusing to get out because of the fear of failure will not help you if you actually desire success in your personal finance. Stop those silly excuses that have been wired to stop you. Weigh your options and boldly take that plunge.

“The slothful man saith, there is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets” Proverbs 22:13.

If you fail to risk it because of the fear of failure, have you also considered the possibility of success? It is good to take reasonable risks because if you don’t, you will remain stagnant. Don’t be afraid of failing. The problem is not about failing but about you learning from your mistakes. If you do not fail, you will not learn. That you failed today does not mean you will not succeed tomorrow. Most of the things we enjoy today are inventions of men and women, who dared to take risks.

Your Mindset

The state of your mind and confessions of your mouth can make or mar your success in the New Year. If you have the mind of success, you will succeed but if you have a negative mindset, you will fail. So, begin to see yourself as already financially successful; begin to speak as one already in the big league in the New Year.

“For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” Proverbs 23:7

Forget your past

For many people, their background is a limitation. They blame their parents, the government, the society and themselves for whatever calamities – real or imagined. But if you want to excel financially in the New Year, you just have to forget the past.

“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth” Isaiah 43:18-19

If you persist on focusing on your past, it will be like a driver in motion whose eyes are fixed on the rear view mirror; that is an accident, waiting to happen. So, avoid it.

Wheel of fortune

You must learn to be generous. Reach out to the needy around you. Your charitable acts are seeds sown that are bound to bear fruits in future. Your harvest shall be great if you sow conscientiously. It is like a wheel of fortune, which will be wheeled back to you again.

“Give, and it shall be given unto you…for with the same measure ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. Cast thy bread upon the waters for thou shalt find it after many days.” Luke 6:38; Ecclesiastes 11:1

God-factor

The most significant step you will take in the New Year to boost your financial success is the God-connection. God is the source of everything and unless you get connected to Him, your efforts will amount to nothing.

“For the earth is the lord’s and its fullness thereof.” 1 Corinthians 10:26.

The bible also says that it is God alone that promotes and gives you power to make wealth. So, it is sensible to anchor everything on him.

“Except the lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it; except the lord keep the city, the watchmen waketh but in vain” Psalms 127:1.

Therefore, in all your striving, do not neglect your God, your creator. Dedicate your life to serving Him and live a righteous life so that the devil will have nothing to hold against your financial success.

“For the upright shall dwell in the land and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth and the transgressors shall be rooted out” Proverbs 2:21-22

Conclusion

The only limitation to your financial success in 2013 is you. So, as you step into the New Year, do so in style and with a resolve that you are unstoppable. Your success is already wired into the year. Reach out and grab it. Happy New Year!